So I’ve heard that for maximum retention you should read material that’s just a little above your current level. But, I’ve also learned that when something is interesting or has an emotional connection of some sort, that makes a really big difference as well. So I’ve been trying to get through some untranslated manga but I have to look up 80% of what I’m reading. Is it better to wait on something so difficult for now or keep pushing? Maybe there are more N4-ish manga out there?
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I don’t think it’s a science. If you enjoy the manga and that makes you stick with it then the pain of constant lookup might well be offset by the enjoyment. If not, find something easier.
Either way you’ll learn.
I’m not a big fan of the “read slightly above your level” concept. I feel my progress personally would’ve been extremely slow. I say read what you want. If it’s so difficult that you aren’t able to follow what’s happening and looking up every single word, maybe put it on hold and go to something else. But if you’re able to get the basic idea, that’s the goal. All the words you are looking up is what you’ll be studying. That’s the goal of reading isn’t it? So I say if you enjoy it and are learning from it, then that’s good enough
I never read content for my level….I just read anything I felt like reading……it was definitely hard at first…….sometimes I dropped the content because I found it uninteresting and not worth the effort….other times (more often than not), I finished all content looking up 85% of the words I did not know….. (whether it be manga, visual novels, light novels, anime or anything else I felt like consuming)
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If you have the patience, and you feel like you like what you’re reading…..I see no problem with you reading content you enjoy regardless of difficulty….because it really works…keeps you motivated…
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nowadays it’s more reversed for me….15% of the words I look up (instead of 85%, most of the things I look up is to ensure I got pronunciation right)…and I never stopped just reading (or watching) content I enjoyed
N4-ish manga? Perhaps Crystal Hunters?
The general issue with simpler reading material is that unless it’s graded readers specifically for learners, you’ll see tons of colloquial speech which might be equally hard to parse.
So I would say pick something you like and just roll with it.
Personally, I’m trying to split my time between easy/on my level and interesting/way more advanced. That way I’m not burning out or getting bored to death. So some days (usually slow work days) I’ll read a couple graded readers on Tadoku. Then on days off, when I have lots of extra time, I’ll work my way through a novel looking things up as I go.
Also, jpdb.io has been *super* helpful, because it has pre-made decks of flash cards for specific manga/anime/novels etc.
Beginners worry about “maximum retention” way too much. Telling yourself to split your time and explore is a much more achievable goal.
If there’s anything you can read that’s a bit too easy, spend some time on that.
If there’s anything you know you like because of translation, but it’s too hard, spend some time there.
Use Tadoku to teach yourself that it’s okay to read without lookups, what that feels like and what level of difficulty you should aim for.
Spend some of your time on things that are certainly too easy, some on things that are certainly too hard. (At first you might not be able to find anything that’s *too* easy, so just be patient until you reach that level.)
And then the bulk of your time on whatever feels the most fun – or least bad – between those things.
After learning japanese for some years I think people are approaching it too scientifically. Go into what you enjoy and can get really immersed, otherwise you are torturing yourself with overthinking and the result will be sub-par. The process itself should be enjoyable not that you are trying to min/max it like an RPG.
Slow is fine. You’re relearning your vocab from scratch, no shared etymology to help you like in French or Spanish. It only makes sense that it would take time and you’d have to look a lot of it up, so don’t feel too hard about it.
So long as what’s in it is good enough to hold your attention, the effort will be worth it, and even if it feels like you’re moving at a tortoise pace, remember that a tortoise can still beat a hare in the end. The trick is persistence and will.
I started reading Japanese visual novels 6 months into my Japanese studies (studying about 2-3 hours per day). When I started reading I had to look up like 4 words every single sentence or so, but thanks to Textractor and lookup tools like Yomichan I was able to power through a lot of text. After 6 months of reading VNs, I can confidently say that reading text “way above my level” has definitely improved my Japanese a lot. It’s hard to “prove” that I’ve improved because I don’t really take JLPT tests, but my grammar, parsing, and vocabulary have all improved tremendously from just reading VNs (and some Anki thrown into the mix).
I’ll just say that, if you plan on reading something above your level, make sure to use a pop-up dictionary like Yomichan (most E-readers like Kindles also have pop-up dictionaries, but quality may vary). Some people think it’s a crutch, I think it’s an amazing tool to facilitate early reading for beginners that wouldn’t be comfortable reading otherwise.
Whether you read on your level, below or above also depends on the reading approach you feel comfortable with. The approach for reading above your level is called intensive reading and usually comes with looking up every word and grammar structure you aren’t familiar with.
I usually recommen the opposite, extensive reading, to first time readers in Japanese and collect [free easy reading resources](https://dokushoclub.com/free-reading-resources/n4-free-reading-resources/) for that. I also wrote a bit about [reading manga with the extensive reading approach](https://dokushoclub.com/2022/04/14/start-reading-manga/).